According to Richards, on Dec. 27, 2005, Sheen hit her on the wrist and shoved her in the stomach after she confronted him about pornography Web sites featuring “very young girls” that he’d been visiting. She also said that several days later Sheen pushed her over while she was holding their daughter Lola and “said to me that he was going to have me killed.”

A judge on Friday ordered Sheen, 40, to keep at least 300 feet away from Richards and their two young daughters after the abuse allegations were made. Another hearing is scheduled for May 12.

In a statement issued by Richards’s rep on Friday, the actress said, “I am disappointed that the situation has deteriorated to the point that it has become necessary to seek the assistance of the court. However, my primary concern is and always has been the welfare of the children and this action today was taken to ensure their safety as well as mine.”

But Sheen countered the assertion that the filing is about their children. “This has nothing to do with the best interests of the children, protecting them from this twisted ogre of a father,” Sheen told PEOPLE at the launch of his Sheen Kidz children s clothing line. “This is about hurting, this is about punishing.

In his own short filing on Friday Sheen denied Richards s claims, but said Sunday: “I’m not going to lower myself to become a mudslinger and enter that cesspool of accusation, because that s not who I am.”

Still, Sheen said he planned to fight the allegations. “I’ve also got to have a voice in this, a strong voice in this, and a voice that my children one day will realize was absolutely and entirely in their best interest.”

Richards originally filed for divorce in March of last year, when she was six months pregnant with their daughter Lola. The pair appeared to briefly reconcile after Lola’s birth in June, but on Jan. 4, they requested that their divorce proceed with a private arbitrator.